From Publishers Weekly
Agatha Award winner Fowler offers two parallel plots to dramatize the alternating light-and-dark theme of her 10th beguiling mystery to feature Benni Harper, the San Celina, Calif., amateur sleuth and folk art museum curator. The first is set in 1978, when she's married to rancher Jack Harper; the second in 1995, when she's married to police chief Gabe Ortiz, whom she almost lost to Gabe's old lover Del Hernandez in her previous outing, Steps to the Altar (2002). In the "present" of 1995, when mystery writer and one-time San Selina resident Emma Baldwin loans a crazy quilt for display at the folk art museum, Benni is excited, though the quilt brings back mixed feelings about Jack. Then, shortly after arriving in town on a hush-hush case, PI Luke Webster, a former LAPD pal of Gabe's, gets stabbed to death. Frightening attacks on Benni's truck, creepy phone calls and hate mail follow. Benni must draw on all her crime-solving skills to find the pattern in the clues presented in this ingenious mystery. The overabundance of incidental detail may put off some, but most readers will relish the author's appealing picture of ranch life and small-town affairs, of barbecues and fiestas, of jocular locals and warm family and friends.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Benni Harper mysteries all have quilt patterns for their titles, and quilts figure prominently. Benni's latest opens with her grandmother Dove's marriage in the San Celina, California, church where Benni's own first marriage took place. The tale slips between the present (1995 here) and 1978, when Benni was a young married college student writing a paper on her favorite author, a local writer of Nancy Drew-type stories for girls. There's loss aplenty in Benni's circle, where everyone seems to have lost a spouse or a child, but there's tenderness, too, and an honest religious faith that pervades but does not smother the dailiness of life. Benni's new second husband is the Latino police chief. An old friend of his comes to town and is killed; Benni's author also returns to San Celina and is threatened; someone is stalking Benni herself. The many plotlines converge in a warmhearted spiral that includes the difficulties of marriage, the complexities of a large multiethnic circle of overlapping friends and relations, and old, buried secrets. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Benni Harper might not realize it, but the old quilting pattern "Sunshine and Shadow" is a perfect metaphor for her life: Her happy childhood was overshadowed by her mother's death; her early marriage ended after a few months when her young husband was killed, and now, nearly 20 years later, Benni finds that some scraps she'd saved from that time are casting shadows on her current life. Somehow, a noted children's author's return to San Celina County -- Earlene Fowler's fictional California ranch setting -- has triggered a murder. Benni tries to shed light on the crime by every means at her disposal, sorting through her memories of her first meeting with the author two decades ago, leafing through her first husband's journal from that period, and riding shotgun with her current husband, the local police chief. As a pattern emerges, she realizes that while the motives for the murder lie in the past, the killer has some all-too-current reasons to strike again. The harsh realities of ranch life, the beauty and art of quilting, the power of small-town secrets, and the strength of family that binds us to the past and frees us to live our own lives all come together in this tenth entry in the Benni Harper series. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One of Benni's favorite mystery writers, Emma Baldwin, is coming to San Celina. Her purpose: to reconnect with the town she left years before. Benni is thrilled when Emma agrees to display at the folk art museum a crazy quilt that inspired Emma's first book. It's an exciting time for Benni - and it also stirs up some bittersweet memories of her first husband.

Her current husband, Gabe, also has a friend in town: Luke, an old LAPD buddy, now a private investigator, who's here on a mysterious assignment. But when he's found murdered soon after his arrival, Benni's visit with her mystery writer is overshadowed by a real-life mystery. And when she starts receiving strange phone calls and anonymous letters telling her she'll be the next victim, her interested in the case becomes even more urgent.

Meanwhile, Benni's grandmother is having problems of her own. Her recent vow of 'til death do us part might be replaced with 'til divorce do us part...unless Benni can quickly talk some sense into her. It's safe to say Benni Harper's life is pretty chaotic right now. And it's a lot more shadow than sunshine.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

Fowler's charm as a storyteller derives from the way she unpredictably sews all these and several other disparate plots together, just like one of those quilts in Benni's museum. Characters' lives crisscross over time, patterns emerge, random actions beget pleasing, as well as ugly, results. And, as Sunshine and Shadow suggests, one dropped stitch can ultimately cause the whole crazy-quilt pattern of a family's life to fall apart. — Maureen Corrigan

Publishers Weekly

Agatha Award winner Fowler offers two parallel plots to dramatize the alternating light-and-dark theme of her 10th beguiling mystery to feature Benni Harper, the San Celina, Calif., amateur sleuth and folk art museum curator. The first is set in 1978, when she's married to rancher Jack Harper; the second in 1995, when she's married to police chief Gabe Ortiz, whom she almost lost to Gabe's old lover Del Hernandez in her previous outing, Steps to the Altar (2002). In the "present" of 1995, when mystery writer and one-time San Selina resident Emma Baldwin loans a crazy quilt for display at the folk art museum, Benni is excited, though the quilt brings back mixed feelings about Jack. Then, shortly after arriving in town on a hush-hush case, PI Luke Webster, a former LAPD pal of Gabe's, gets stabbed to death. Frightening attacks on Benni's truck, creepy phone calls and hate mail follow. Benni must draw on all her crime-solving skills to find the pattern in the clues presented in this ingenious mystery. The overabundance of incidental detail may put off some, but most readers will relish the author's appealing picture of ranch life and small-town affairs, of barbecues and fiestas, of jocular locals and warm family and friends. Agent, Ellen Gieger. (May 6) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews